C# Minor Pentatonic Tap Lick With Chris Zoupa

I was messing around with a pentatonic and started messing around with some taps.

I found that if I tapped 4 frets up from the most common box shape of the minor pentatonic that all the notes were in key.

But some of the tapped notes weren’t just out of the pentatonic scale, but the Aeolian scale too.

The tapped notes from the 1st string to the 6th string in this key of C# are: G#, D#, B, F#, C#, G#. The C# minor pentatonic is made up of C#, E, F#, G# and B so when we include the D# (2nd note of C# Aeolian & C# Dorian) it gives the scale a bit less of a bluesy vibe and more of a natural minor sound. Let’s take a look at the full lick now.

I just wanted to add the quick disclaimer that the D# tapped note will make this lick incompatible with C# Phrygian, but very friendly in Aeolian or Dorian contexts. You can mess around with the triplet feel and make it more of a quaver or semiquaver pulse, you can change the order of strings tapped or include string skips… Or even have the lick ascending the possibilities are endless. I hope this has planted an intriguing seed for you guys to mess around with!